The International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM) has selected winners of its 2009 Search for New Music Competition. For the first time in the 28-year history of the annual Search, the Ruth Anderson Prize for a new sound installation with electro-acoustic music was included.
Margaret Schedel of Sound Beach, N.Y., has been named to receive the first Ruth Anderson Prize. She will receive $1000 for Madame Chinchilla: Twenty Love Songs and A Song of Despair, a multi-media collaborative installation/video after Pablo Neruda's poetic cycle of the same title.
Other honorees are:

● Dafina Zequiri of Prishtina, Kosovo, for the Theodore Front Prize ($300, sponsored by Theodore Front Musical Literature, Inc.) for a composer of chamber and orchestral works who is at least 22 years old, for Athmospheres for large orchestra. Honorable Mentions go to Lan-chee LAM of Toronto, Canada, for Crystallized Tree for guitar, harp and percussion; Karen Power of Limerick, Ireland, for one piece of chocolate per bar for orchestra; and Faye-Ellen Silverman of New York, N.Y., for Stories for Our Time for trumpet and piano.

● Susanne Stelzenbach of Berlin, Germany, for the Miriam Gideon Prize ($500) for a composer at least 50 years of age for works for solo voice and between one and five instruments. Stelzenbach won for her piece schokolade versüßt heute nicht for mezzosoprano and clavier. Pamela J. Marshall of Lexington, Mass., and Judith Cloud of Flagstaff, Ariz., were given honorable mentions for, respectively, Body and Soul volume 2 for soprano, flute, cello and piano, and Four Sonnets by Pablo Neruda: Set 2 for voice and piano.

● Jennifer Fowler of London, UK, for the Sylvia Glickman Memorial Prize ($500, given by Harvey Glickman in memory of his wife and supported by the Hildegard Institute), awarded to a composer at least 40 years old, for a work for piano trio or quartet, or any combination of four instruments, drawing from woodwinds, strings, and piano. The work must be unperformed and unpublished. The winning composition will be offered to the Hildegard Chamber Players for possible performance and considered for publication by the Hildegard Publishing Company. Fowler's winning piece is Towards Release for string quartet. Honorable mention goes to Joke Kegel of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, for her You, wind of March, a trio in two parts for violin, cello and piano.

● Gity H. Razaz of New York, N.Y., for the Libby Larsen Prize ($200), awarded to a composer, of a work in any medium, who is currently enrolled in school. Razaz wins for In the Midst of Flux – A Tone Poem for large orchestra. Honorable mentions go to Karen Siegel of Astoria, N.Y., for Saguaro for SSAATTBB chorus and two soprano soloists; Chiayu Hsu of Durham, N.C., for Jade: Twelve Signs for viola; Sang Mi Ahn of Bloomington, Ind., for Psalm 30 for chamber orchestra; Juhi Bansal of Pasadena, Calif., for The Lost Country of Sight: Song Cycle (text by Neil Aitken) for female voice, cello, percussion. and piano; and KyungA Ahn of Carmel, Ind., for Midnight Wind for chamber orchestra.

● Janice Misurell-Mitchell of Chicago, Ill., for the New Genre Prize ($200), awarded for innovation in form or style, including improvisation, multimedia, or use of non-traditional notation. Her winning work is Profaning the Sacred II for voice/flute/alto flute ( one performer). Honorable mentions go to Linda Dusman of Baltimore, Md., for magnificat 3: lament, for violin and electronics; and Liza White of Jamaica Plain, Mass., for her piece, Babylon, for trumpet and percussion.

● Lu Minjie of Chengdu City, China, for the Pauline Oliveros Prize ($150) for works for electro-acoustic media. Her winning piece is Flowing Water and Distorsion for Guqin and MAX/MSP Program. Diana Simpson of Manchester, UK, received honorable mention for Papyrus.

● Tao Yu of Paris, France, for the PatsyLu Prize ($500) for work in any medium by women of color and/or lesbians, for YU YU for mandolin, guitar, and harp. Receiving honorable mentions are Chris Lastovicka of Philmont, N.Y., for Abraxas for horn, two violins, cello and piano; and Shinyoung Aum of Urbana, Ill., for Light, vanishing for ensemble.

● Yi-Cheng Chiang of Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for the Judith Lang Zaimont Prize ($400), for extended instrumental compositions—large solo or chamber works—by a composer at least 30 years old whose music has not yet been recorded or published. The winning piece was Duo 2 for prepared violin and prepared piano. Honorable mentions go to Janet Jieru Chen of Durham, N.C., for the piece, Life Without Stars for flute, clarinet, violin and cello; Aurie Hsu of Charlottesville, Va., for mosaic for flute, clarinet, violin and piano; Helena Michelson of Fremont, Calif., for the piece Ricercata for piano; and Heidi Jacob of Swarthmore, Pa., for Regard a Schubert: a Fantasy Impromptu pour piano.
● Nell Shaw Cohen of Sag Harbor, N.Y., for the Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Prize ($200) for a composition in any medium by a composer at least 21 years of age. The winning composition is Forming Desires for contralto, clarinet, horn and cello. Honorable mention goes to Molly Joyce of Pittsburgh, Pa., for Valle de los Caidos for wind ensemble, percussion and piano.